These are the accompanying symptoms | Headache when coughing

These are the accompanying symptoms

The accompanying symptoms that can occur with cough headaches depend first of all on whether the headache is primary or secondary. While primary cough headaches usually have few accompanying symptoms, such as mild nausea, secondary headaches can have many different other symptoms. Since a cold and sinusitis are the most common causes of secondary cough headaches, Belgian-associated symptoms such as a cold, slight fever, a feeling of pressure over the sinuses or a sore throat are not uncommon.

It is not uncommon for sufferers to suffer from fever in addition to the cough that leads to the headache, which suggests various causes. Even the level of the fever can be decisive in the differential diagnosis. In the case of light fever, a cold and cough, for example, the presence of a common cold can be assumed.

If the body temperature rises to over 39°C, flu should be considered, especially during the cold seasons. This is usually accompanied by a dry, irritable cough. Pneumonia is another disease that can be considered in cases of high fever and cough.

A distinction between these two diseases is usually made by auscultating (listening) to the sounds of breathing and asking about other accompanying symptoms. A cold and a rhinitis, in the sense of a sinusitis, are the most common causes of secondary cough headache. There is a slight increase in body temperature, a runny nose, coughing and a general feeling of illness.

In the case of sinusitis, there is also pressure pain over the sinuses and mild to moderate headaches. Again, the pain only occurs during coughing and subsides after a few minutes. Everything you should know about headaches during a cold can be found here: Headaches during a cold

This is how the diagnosis is made

The diagnosis of cough headaches initially consists in differentiating them from other types of headache. The information that the pain always occurs in isolation after coughing and lasts only for a short period of time is groundbreaking in this respect. There is usually no photophobia, nausea or sensitivity to noise.

In addition, cough headaches usually affect the entire head and are not dominant on one side. Furthermore, a distinction must now be made between primary and secondary headaches, i.e. an underlying cause, such as a cold, must be sought. If no clear cause can be found, one speaks of primary headaches. When diagnosing this type of headache, imaging (CT or MRI) should always be carried out to rule out the presence of masses in the skull, which can also lead to an increase in intracranial pressure.